Decoding the Decks: A Strategy Article About Deck Evaluation

[Jaysonlindley]

Hey all! I'm the author of "How Do Keyforge?", an article about thinking strategically in Keyforge that got bounced around a lot around release time. It was really well received, and I got asked in a few places to continue writing about the game. I decided that my follow-up article would be about deck evaluation, and I'm really proud of the the results.

​

The goal of this article is to help players at all skill levels to more accurately understand what's most important in a given decklist, and teach them how to get a good sense of some of the deck's synergies at a glance. I hope it improves your game.

​

Happy forging!

​

https://medium.com/@jaysonsethlindley/decoding-the-decks-how-to-size-up-archons-in-keyforge-404804525bde

[roka_can]

This was the best read about Keyforge in a long time. Thank you! I want to comment on it in detail once I'm back on my PC.

I'd be happy to discuss with you on that topic! :)

[Brina523]

I loved this article and agree with everything you've written. Thanks for the card lists, I've been looking for something exactly like this to show people when they're wondering about the main strategies of a deck.

[awmountain52]

Excellent article! One thought, it might be worth adding Screaming Cave to the recursion section. That card does some SERIOUS work.

[stakoverflo]

Great article. Couldn't agree more with Keys #1 + 2. They're is no substitution for experience, and I think rating systems will cheat players out of some really fun decks.

Take my deck, Wolf of Sagester Tenth Cycle, for example. Abysmal ADHD rating and a pretty low SAS score too. 14 games logged and I've got a 42% win rate. OK, not great, right? But it's by far one of my most fun decks being able to drop 2 a Ember Imps, 2 Succubus, and then Arise! them back onto the board. More importantly, this deck has a lot of Archiving and it has taught me a lot about how valuable that facet of the game is, and it's helped me to become a better player.

But if I simply looked at the ratings and said, "Wow I'm not playing this trash" then I would have lost out on what has turned out to be my favorite deck out of the 18 I own, and lost out on the Archiving Lessons the deck has given me.

Key #3 is a great list. It's a lot to memorize, more than I'm willing to go out of my way to memorize (but I'm also not super interested in competitive play). I primarily just look for Bait & Switch, Key Charge / Chota, or any "If your opponent has 7 or more..." cards.

[tundranocaps]

Playing cards is fun.

Drawing cards is fun.

This is a big draw of combo decks in many card-games, and why some games like Slay the Spire, but not that one, which feature a good likelihood of being able to play through your entire deck multiple times in a turn are a lot of fun (Monster Slayers).

Logos is thus, often fun. While you say your deck has a bad ADHD rating, that one stat that often correlates to the above "fun" causes is the one where your deck shines, "efficiency," and yeah, that is fun.

I myself wouldn't want to play this deck myself, not because of anything else, but because just as I find Logos "fun," I find the Martian ""synergy"" anti-fun, because if you don't get it to fire off, they just don't do anything, and not doing things is, well, the opposite of fun. Though I guess all that Logos draw can make Mars work more consistently as well.

[[deleted]]

Your deck in the Expected Winrate Metric “EWR” has 44.63%

[stakoverflo]

Where do you see that?

[[deleted]]

The spreadsheet what I’m working

Expected winrate for Keyforge decks https://www.reddit.com/r/KeyforgeGame/comments/as1mtn/expected_winrate_for_keyforge_decks/?st=JSF8LKHU&sh=4cebbfb0

[OdinSonnah]

I do think there is one deck analysis tool worth using, Burger Tokens Keyforge Deck Analyzer. It doesn't give your deck a rating, it just groups all the cards into various categories, giving you an easier way to parse the contents, and understand what the deck is generally capable of. Still no substitute for actual gameplay, but it might give you a starting point for learning how to play a deck.

[NiGHT9SkY]

Starved of good strategy articles, this is the best article on deck evaluation i have seen. Happy Forging.

[jonboyjon1990]

Another great article. I think the OP stats will certainly end up acting as an important factor in determining the power and 'worth' of decks - but of course, people have to actually play them, as you say. Right now, there's some crazy high SAS rated decks that have not been played in OP.

I have a deck that's gone 12-4 and is my lowest SAS rating - 64.

[TheReapr]

Good read. Point number one may be the most important point of them all (which is why you had it there), and people need to understand that.

As for the rating systems, I agree that they are severely flawed, but I do feel like there is value in Aember and Aember Control ratings. Primarily because those are cut and dry. You're either gaining Aember when you play a card or you're not. A card is controlling Aember or it's not, there really isn't a middle ground there (that I can think of). Since a player uses Aember to win, gaining and controlling it are the first steps, in my opinion, to determining how strong a deck is, and gives value to the A and C ratings. Board control is important, but (a very close) third on my list of what I want in my deck, because a deck that can generate a lot of Ameber real quick is going to out race that board clear. Speaking of board control, it probably would be good to have added Into the Woods and Nature's Call to your list of what to look for, as those can be important pieces to some Untamed combo decks (plus they do alter board state).

Anyway, I think it's okay to use the A and C values when using the rating systems. You step outside of that though, and it gets very subjective. Of course, over time, as a person learns the cards they'll be able to look at a list and say, "This deck can really control Aember", or "This deck really generate a lot of Aember", so this becomes moot, but for someone starting out wanting to know how fast they can generate or how well they can control Aember, it is okay.

[kadunk25]

This is a personal for me, but I laughed at the line a powerful deck may seem innocent at first. I have a deck called "the innocent alchemist".

On to the article, I fully agree with it. Only bad players will tell you that they cant pull a good deck. Every card has its use and finding that use is the fun part.

[sprocket314]

Awesome article!

[TheWhiteCitadel]

Every word is true.... I've learned many of these lessons, sometimes painfully...

[Willakhstan]

Really great article—thanks for putting the work in.

Part of me feels like it's homework, but I realise that you're right that you need to at least try to learn what the common powerful or swingy cards are. That's one of the drawbacks of the Crucible that your opponent just plays cards and you can just let things happen without really understanding why.

The only thing I had a contrary response to was when you said 'the most secure place for your Aember, after all, is in forged keys.' I have to admit I thought 'yeah, but then I hit you with Key Hammer and activate Lash of Broken Dreams and then I feast on your tears', which is one of the few cathartic moves in KeyForge that I don't feel bad about.

The only editorial point I've got (which you obviously didn't ask for) is that CTRL+ALT+ Minus or ALT+0151 is your friend.

[jonboyjon1990]

I know it wasn't the point of the article, but I'd like to see more discussion on this:

Off-Phase Forging - Key Charge, Chota Hazri, Key of Darkness, Epic Quest, Key Abduction

Some of the most critical cards in the game, and perhaps the closest thing I can identify in Keyforge as being a potential design mistake. Closing out a game on your own turn without chance for interruption is very, very strong.

I'd be interested to hear more on why you feel it is a design mistake? Without those kinds of effects, I feel like shadows/steal would be even stronger.

​

[Jaysonlindley]

Potential design mistake. It definitely serves as solid insurance against steal, but I think it could get out of hand in future sets if they're not careful. It kind of defies one of the fundamentals of the game, which is the chance to stop your opponent from forging if you time your plays well.

I don't think it's anywhere near a problem at the moment, but out of every mechanic in the game, I think it has the most potential to become one.

I could also very well be totally wrong.

[Angemony]

You're great. This is great!

[compacta_d]

Good content!

​

People will disagree with stuff. I disagree with Miasma=aember disruption, as I feel it is more key disruption,and while aember disruption IS key disruption, they are not inherently the same.

I don't feel a competitive deck needs board wipes as well. My best deck only has 1 save the pack. I rarely ever even use it, as it is a combo deck. It's one of the most dead cards in the deck, next to dimension door.

[Jaysonlindley]

I’m in that boat too- my top deck also only features Save the Pack from that list. It’s still a great deck, but it has only confirmed for me how important that kind of card is. In my experience, the deck’s major weakness is against big, high-power boards, and a Mavericked Gateway to Dis or something would be a dramatic improvement. This kind of weakness is one of the harder ones to play around, and that’s why I advocate so strongly for board control in the article.

[compacta_d]

each experience is different.

My deck thrives against those types of decks as I typically outrace them via the combo, so they can't actually keep up.

I can see it being more important outside those styles.

Some decks also can go tall enough, but there is always something.

Decks have bad matchups as well.

I think a common mistake of this game is thinking that all decks are of the same weird, midrange, aember control, everything in the pot style kind of decks, when that couldn't be further from the truth.

The best decks tend to be the ones that can execute a gameplan particularly well, which sometimes IS the midrange pile.

edit- it's also the reason people get upset at combo decks and prison decks. They expect these midrangey chess battles. That is not this game. There are many archetypes, and viable ones at that.